The objective of India’s labor laws and social security initiative, MGNREGA, is to guarantee individuals the statutory entitlement to employment, characterized by a minimum of 100 days of paid work within a financial year.
Designed to safeguard the “right to work,” the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005, later rebranded as the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” (MGNREGA), stands as an Indian labor regulation and social safety initiative. By ensuring a minimum of 100 days of paid work per fiscal year for every household where adult members volunteer for unskilled manual labor, it aims to enhance livelihood stability in rural regions.
MGNREGA also strives to create enduring assets such as roads, canals, ponds, and wells. According to the law, minimum wages must be paid, and employment opportunities should be provided within a 5 km radius of the applicant’s residence. Should applicants not receive employment within 15 days of their application, they are entitled to unemployment benefits.
Wage seekers are entitled to compensation for delays beyond the sixteenth day of the muster roll closure, as per the provisions outlined in Schedule II of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA). The compensation is calculated at the rate of 0.05% of the unpaid wages per day of delay.
Under the P.V. Narasimha Rao administration, a pilot program was initiated in 1991 to generate employment opportunities in rural regions. Initially termed the Employment Assurance Scheme, it was amalgamated with the Food for Work Program in the early 2000s, evolving into the MGNREGA.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was launched on 2nd February 2006 in 200 selected districts, and by 2007–08, it had expanded to an additional 130 districts. By 1st April 2008, the Act covered every rural area in the country. Presently, all designated rural areas across the nation are implementing the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.
Formally ratified by the Indian Parliament in 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) saw its initial adoption by several Indian regions in 2006. The rollout commenced in the first phase across 200 districts from February 2006, followed by extensions to an additional 113 districts on April 1st and 17 districts on May 15th, 2007. The Act was fully implemented in all remaining districts by April 1st, 2008. Currently, the Act is operational in 644 districts across the nation with substantial rural populations. Its inauguration on February 2, 2006, in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh marked the beginning of this nationwide initiative.
The key authorities responsible for formulating and executing plans under this Act are the Panchayats at the district, intermediate, and village tiers. Essential stakeholders include laborers, the Gram Sabha, PRIs (Panchayati Raj Institutions), notably the Gram Panchayats, block-level program officers, district program coordinators, state governments, and the Ministry of Rural Development.
Among the MGNREGS’s goals are
Social safety through paid work options for the most vulnerable rural Indians
The following are MGNREGA’s objectives:
The Gram Sabha (GS) will hold open assemblies to make plans and decisions about the type and selection of works to be done, the sequence in which each worksite is chosen, etc., and the Gram Panchayat (GP) will ratify these decisions.
Role of Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayats | |
Gram Sabha |
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Gram Panchayats |
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The State Government is accountable for the following:
Adult members of a household who want to apply for MGNREGA unskilled wage work may register their household. The local Gram Panchayat may receive the registration application on plain paper or on a form that is prescribed. In order to provide families with the best possible chance to relocate, registration will also be open year-round at the GP office.
Schedule I, Paragraph 4(1), makes provisions for the following MGNREGA works:
Category A: Natural Resources Management-Related Public Works
Category B: Specific Resources for Dangerous Areas
Category C: NRLM-Compliant Self-Help Groups’ Common Infrastructure
Category D: Infrastructure in Rural Areas
Any registered rural household having a job card is entitled to get employment under the Act. A job seeker has to apply in writing for getting employment under the Act
No, The Act does not have a separate provision for agricultural labourers. Adult members of any registered rural household who are willing to do unskilled manual work may get employment under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA on demand subject to a ceiling of 100 days in a financial year per household.
The workers are entitled to be paid wages on a weekly basis and in any case within a fortnight of the date on which work was done. Payment of wages to the NREGA workers has been made mandatory through their accounts in post offices/banks.
Para 9 of Schedule I of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA provides that the cost of material component of projects including the wages of the skilled and semiskilled workers taken up under the Scheme shall not exceed forty per cent of the total project costs.
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